Taking a day off when you are sick. It is something that is easy to take for granted, but many low-wage New Yorkers have no paid sick days and even put their job at risk if they stay home sick without pay. But soon that will be in the past.

It is true that the members of the Progressive Caucus are working closely with labor unions and community groups to help bring about a more progressive New York City? It's not a secret conspiracy. We've been writing about it for months.

What the mayor offered New Yorkers Tuesday was a pep rally for his failing proposition that our city has to choose between better policing and safer streets, between saving lives and protecting our Constitutional rights.

This week, we took some big steps forward toward a better NYPD. With independent oversight, we will finally be able to take a close look at NYPD policies that impair civil liberties, put officers in danger, or lead to ineffective policing.

This Sunday, on Father's Day, I will be marching with tens of thousands of other New Yorkers to call for reform of stop-and-frisk. We cannot accept a New York where people are subject to civil liberties violations based on the color of their skin.

As the New York City Council grapples with a budget that proposes cuts to child care, senior services and homeless shelters, to name a few, the handouts to corporations and big banks with little accountability or transparency are appalling.

Overall, over the last five years contract costs have increased at nearly twice the rate of overall budget spending, reaching over ten billion in spent public funds. We need increased oversight of private contracts and consulting costs.

It is clear that this administration has a double standard when it comes to accountability. Poor and working families must prove their need, at every step, in order to receive even the bare minimum of assistance.

NYC businesses, especially those that receive city subsidies, must do something to alleviate the hardships faced by our city's poorest families. The Living Wage bill is the first step in a process that can ensure that this happens.

In the wake of Citizens United, Americans have a choice: sit back and watch our democracy erode, or work to undo the decision and restore individual rights in the face of the false notion of "corporate personhood."

Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD acted with cowardice by trying to use the cloak of night, while people slept, as a shield from the highly questionable tactics they engaged in during their raid on Zuccotti Park.

It's not just our legislative fights and our progressive principles that make us part of the "new progressive movement." It's also a style of politics that is infused with hopeful energy, and partners with community members.

When I first made the decision to visit the Occupy Wall Street encampment, I was skeptical. However, what I -- and now thousands of New Yorkers -- have found at Zuccotti Park is an undeniable energy and spirit.